1. Upscaling and strengthening the capacities of
the youth in East Africa to advocate and combat
HIV/AIDS through community media, mobile
telephony and online presence
A project under the Unified Budget, Results and
Accountability Framework (UBRAF) 2012 – 2013
EACOMNET M&E Meeting Report

2. Table of Contents
Page 1: Project Background
Page 2: About EACOMNET
Page 3: Meeting procedure
Page 4: Summary of online discussions
Page 5: Programme proceedings
Page 12: Summary of key messages
Page 15: Challenges and key lessons
Page 19: Annexes

3. EACOMNET Secretariat | Shalom House, Ngong Road,
Daniel Comboni Road-Wing C 1st Floor. P.O Box 2641-
00100, GPO Nairobi. Tel: (254 20) 2379949;
Cell: (254 20) 725262623
Contact person: Njuki Githethwa
njuki@kcomnet.org | secretariat@kcomnet.org
Website: www.eacomnet.net
Editorial: Njuki Githethwa
Design and Layout: @ochiengamos
Meeting Photos: @ochiengamos
EACOMNET Publication | September 2013
This report is a summary of the recent Monitoring
and Evaluation meeting hosted by East African
Community Media Network (EACOMNET)
secretariat in Nairobi on 29th - 30th August 2013.
The report has been prepared for circulation to
participants and partners but is also intended as
a resource for those interested in the meeting
proceedings.

4. In collaboration with UNESCO, EACOMNET has been engaged in a project under the Unified
Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) 2012 – 2013. The project seeks to upscale
and strengthen the capacities of the youth in East Africa to advocate and combat HIV/AIDS through
community media, mobile telephony and online presence. The goal of the project is to establish a
youth friendly platform and to build a regional network of correspondents to combat HIV/AIDS
through the development and sharing of radio programs and related multimedia formats.
To achieve the programmatic and the operational outcomes of this project, the following interventions
have taken place:
• Community radio correspondents have been trained on investigative reporting and local
content generation of radio and multimedia programmes in Eastern Africa.
• A multimedia website have been designed to share the radio programmes produced by the
community radios in the region (See www.eacomnet.net)
• Audio hosting service have been outsourced from sound cloud to store the radio programmes
in high quality mp3 format.
• Youth friendly online platforms – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube– have been established so that
young people can start to actively and creatively take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS using
online presence and mobile telephony.
• This M&E meeting has taken place. The meeting is a result of EACOMNET’s ongoing commitment
to sound evaluation and impact measurement of its projects and the increasing demand in the
secretariat to respond to demands for evidence of impact.
Background
page|1

5. About EACOMNET
EACOMNET is an umbrella body of community radio stations in
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda and Burundi. EACOMNET
is driven by national community media networks in Eastern Africa
region, such as Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET),
Community Media Network of Tanzania (COMNETA), Community
Media Network of Uganda (COMNETU) and others in the
subregion.
EACOMNET’S mission is to network community media initiatives
in East Africa and to facilitate them to effectively engage in pressing
socio-economic issues in the region. The main partners for the
network are the community radio stations, media
production organizations, NGOs, UN bodies, inter- governmental
agencies and other development partners.
EACOMNET programme areas are centred on networking,
capacity building and policy advocacy. Since its inception in
2012, EACOMNET has managed to support efforts in respective
countries in East Africa to establish national community media
networks where they were non-existent. Strengthening the
national community media networks is crucial for them to be able
to support local media to address pressing socio-economic and
local governance issues at the grassroot communities.
Kenya Community
Media Network
(KCOMNET)
Community Media
Network of Tanzania
(COMNETA)
Community
Media
Network
of Uganda
(COMNETU)
page|2
KENYA
TANZANIA
UGANDA
RWANDA
BURUNDI

6. The meeting was announced on August 5, 2013 by email to a group of 12 participants. 10 participants
confirmed physical attendance. The meeting brought together ICT for Development (ICT4D) experts
in an interactive online dialogue process and a face to face meeting on 29th - 30th August 2013 in
Nairobi. The face to face meeting was preceded by the active inputs from the online discussions. The
aim of the meeting was to provide guidance on how to use community media, mobile telephony
and online presence to design and set up an online monitoring system and an evaluation process
for the UBRAF project and related engagements by EACOMNET. The 11 participants of the face to
face meeting (Annex 4) were drawn regionally from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya to represent ICT
networks, community media, AIDS NGOs, bloggers, academia and techies.
Most participants came from Kenya. One of the distinctive features of the meeting was the multi-
stakeholder background of the participants. The meeting reinforced EACOMNET’s commitment to
multi-stakeholderism in its engagements going forward.
The meeting was premised on two issues of concern
How do we design M&E Strategies
using community media, mobile
telephony and online presence?
What criteria should we use to award
community radio that has produced the
best programme(s) on HIV/AIDS and
engagements on online platforms?
Meeting Procedure
page|3

7. Summary of Online Discussions
The online discussions were rich,
insightful and elaborate (Annex 4).
Analysis of the points highlighted
in the online discussions identified
words/points which were referred
frequently by the participants.
These words/points are
summarized in the opposite word
cloud (fig. 1)
Key questions that came up during
the online discussions include.
• Where is the M&E data for this
project going to come from?
• How is continuous online
participation going to be
achieved?
• How will we develop the
indicators?
• Which data analysis methods
will be used?
page|4
Figure 1

8. Programme Proceedings
Annex 2

9. Setting the Context-Njuki Githethwa
Njuki set the context for the meeting by welcoming participants and giving background information
about EACOMNET UBRAF. He also clarified the specific objectives of the meeting. Njuki observed
that, “measuring results and evaluations in general, including impact evaluations, are indispensable
processes that every organization that wants to succeed in any project must take seriously”. He
recognized the role of youth in production and consumption of content and concluded the opening
remarks by posing pertinent questions: how do we find that the content being published on
EACOMNET’s website and online platforms is useful to the target audience? How do we distinguish
what is relevant from what is not and how do we know that the information we publish online is
achieving the intended impact?
Njuki Githethwa is the Coordinator of Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET) and the
secretariat of East African Community Media Network (EACOMNET) based in Nairobi.
Introducing eacomnet web presence - Alex Odhiambo & AMos Ochieng
Alex Odhiambo and Amos Ochieng introduced the EACOMNET website (www.eacomnet.net)
and social media platforms. Alex in his presentation gave an overview of how the website works
and explained the technical background behind the interface of the website and the social media
platforms. He highlighted areas that still need improvement and asked participants to provide a
critical review on the website and the social media platforms.
Alex Odhiambo is EACOMNET’s web programmer and developer and is responsible for day to day
Search Engine Optimization for the site; Amos Ochieng is the programmes officer – ICT at KCOMNET
and is responsible for maintaining the overall look and feel of EACOMNET website and social media
sites, keeping the content fresh, well-structured and relevant to the audience.
page|6

10. Interpreting Google Analytics & Web Metrics - Phillip Thigo
Using www.eacomnet.net Google analytics dashboard, Phillip explained that Google analytics allows
you to see where your visitors come from and if they engage with your content or leave immediately.
With Google Analytics, you can get valuable insights about your visitors as well as identify the social
media sites that send the most visitors back to your website to see which one needs more attention.
This way you will learn more about the visitors who come to your site from Twitter, Facebook,
Google+ or other social media sites.
It was clear to all participants that the challenge with the setting up of online M&E strategies will be
in the synthesizing and making sense of all the information coming in via all sorts of media channels
and being accountable now and in future to those who participate in the process. Philip Thigo shared
experiences and a series of innovative online engagement practices, highlighting a range of low cost
innovative online and offline engagement tools.
Philip Thigo is the Director, Business Analysis & Strategy at Infonet Africa-www..infonet.or.ke
The role of mobile telephony and new media tools in advocating and
combating hiv/aids prevention and mitigation - edward ahonobadha
In his presentation, Edward presented statistics and trends on how youth are using new media
tools in the local and global contexts to fight and combat HIV/AIDS. “Digital and social media has
become a way to communicate, connect and learn in our own terms” he pointed. He shared case
scenarios on how young people are engaging with the online platforms of the Kenya AIDS NGOs
Consortium(KANCO) on issues of AIDS. Contributions from participants laid out the context within
which youth are turning to online communication channels to address challenges related to sex,
pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
Edward gave a case study how KANCO is working with National Empowerment Network of People
Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK) through the Ministry of health to address the plight of
People Living with HIV and AIDS in Ndeiya, Central Province.
page|7

11. He concluded by citing the challenges posed by new media tools in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic
and pledged the determination of KANCO to work with EACOMNET to upscale the project in Kenya
and in the region
Edward Ahonobadha is a Documentation and Communication Manager at Kenya AIDS NGOs
Consortium (KANCO).
ICT Tools for M&E - Cleopa Otieno
Cleopa explained the functions of three tools. Frontline SMS, Freedom phone and Twitter for feature
phones. “These are the technologies changing the nature of monitoring and evaluation” he observed.
1. Frontline SMS is a desktop software and web based service that enables instantaneous two-way
communication to any mobile handset
2. Freedom phone use voice menus to conveniently provide information on demand services,
making it a useful additional channel for community radio stations and emergency response
initiatives. It can be used to provide information on a full spectrum of issues, it is intuitive, cost-
conscious and Internet-independent.
3. Twitter for SMS is a service for users of feature phones with limited or no connectivity. The tweets
are received/sent as SMS. This channel can be used to mobilize listeners, remind of upcoming
broadcast/program, as a feedback mechanism for listeners, conduct surveys and even market the
radio station. This service is low cost, each tweet is KES1.00 and is broadcast to all community
members subscribed to the service for free via twitter website, if any member sends a question or
gives feedback, s/he is charged the same amount but the tweet is broadcast to all for free.
Cleopa Otieno is a Community Learning Coordinator at telecentre.org and the National Coordinator
for Kenya Telecentre Network.
page|8

12. FRI Experience - Kassim Sheghembe
Farm Radio International (FRI), is using several strategies to a) maximize listener participation in radio
programs through mobile phones and b) put in place monitoring and mentoring mechanisms to keep
abreast of how the radio programs are developing and steer the course as needed. Kassim presented
and demonstrated the following strategies relevant to this project.
a) “Beep-to-vote” is a way that a radio station can allow listeners to vote by leaving a missed call on
either one or two (or even three) numbers to “cast their vote”. It allows anyone to participate at little
or no cost, even those without knowledge on how to write an sms. This can be used to conduct short
surveys (true/false) or evaluate a program (like/don’t like) or make a choice (option-A/option-B).
“Beep-to-vote” is based on a cloud based sms software called Telerivet.
b) Community listener group surveys - using a similar platform to beep-to-vote, FRI sends 10 questions
to a listener club (usually approx. 20 people) via sms, after they have listened to the live program.
The responses to the questions are shared via web with the broadcasters and the Farm Radio staff
members to help monitor and improve the programs from week to week.
c) SMS to facebook. FRI announces a number on the radio and tell listeners that their sms will be
published to the facebook page belonging to the radio station. This allows people who are “offline”
to have their views/comments posted online (through facebook).
All FRI partner community radios are using a $250 android 7” tablet in the studio so that broadcasters
can access the above services in real time. Broadcasters can submit logsheets each week and email a
copy of their recorded radio program to FRI office each week.
Kassim Sheghembe is an M&E expert using mobiles/radio and online platforms at Farm Radio
International, Tanzania.
page|9

13. Introduction to M&E - Christian Benard
Christian Bernard exposed participants to qualitative and mixed methods used in evaluation,
data analysis tools and step by step guide to monitoring. A “surgery” with Christian, provided an
opportunity for participants to put their own “measurement” and evaluation dilemmas forward for
discussion. He proposed a new approach to M&E using ICTs.
Christian Bernard Ochieng is a research scientist and an M&E expert at Kenya Telecentre Network.
UNESCO Experience - Shibata Masakazu
Masa shared an experience of M&E strategies and tools summarized in a conversation prism (Fig 2).
New technologies are opening up all kinds of possibilities for improving monitoring and evaluation.
UNESCO under the project, “Empowering local radios with ICTs” has developed MyLocalRadio.org:
a way to ask and answer questions about local radio. Explaining how the website works, he said, The
website offers a space for the meeting of minds where users can exchange knowledge that makes a
difference in the daily routine of local radios.
Several tools are in operation (Fig 2). These innovative tools provided opportunities for participants
to question and explore how these methods might be used for monitoring and evaluation in their
own contexts.
Masa ia a media specialist, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa - Nairobi, Kenya
Plan and design for the award to the best HIV/AIDS radio programme,
produced and shared by community radios in east africa - jIMMY Okello
Jimmy Okello rounded off the day exploring possibilities for scaling up the project including guidelines
for awarding community radios that has produced the best programmes. He presented an outline
for the plan and design for the awards to the best HIV/AIDS programme produced and shared by
community radio in East Africa.
Jimmy Okello (Radio Apac, Uganda) is the interim Chair of East African Community Media Network
(EACOMNET) and Coordinator of Community Media Network of Uganda (COMNETU).
page|10

14. page|11
Figure 2

15. Summary of Key Messages

16. Most of the discussions were shaped at the intersection of technology and development. Participants
pointed out a variety of issues, strategies and actions.
Audience research is a mobile affair
Whatever your target audience, the only device they are likely to have by their side all the time,
everywhere is a mobile phone. SMS surveys and frontline SMS therefore offer excellent reach and
much speedier response rates than other forms of market research.
Including ‘The missing melody’ is mandatory
Combating stereotypes of women in radio and ensuring balanced coverage of HIV/AIDS issues
means training both genders as well as offering insight on who the beneficiaries are (for example
females compared to males). One participant cited high illiteracy among women as the main reason
preventing them from taking an active part in radio programming. Furthermore, it was suggested that
health issues should be discussed in the context of the target community of respective
community radio station.
“Commercial radio stations
discuss HIV/AIDS issues for the
whole country in one sitting, in
one hour” –
Edward Richard Anonobadha,
KANCO.
page|13

17. Start online advocacy but network offline
Traditional advocacy techniques can be effective; however, combining them with online efforts will
truly maximize your impact.
Gathering support is key to your organization’s success. But once you have that support, how do you
mobilize them into action? Two options were floated:
• Look for influencers. People who have a dynamic personality that comes across online and they
command the respect of other key players in their niche. Work with them to popularize and
promote ideas across multiple channels.
• Locate local voices in the offline world to continue to attract others with a similar vision and
willingness to physically engage with the project.
Trends and statistics from Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO)
• 2/3 of youth either have a mobile device or have access to one
• The explosive use of social media and digital technologies is exposing young people to
unprecedented opportunities and risks
• Digital and social media is a way to communicate, connect and learn in their own terms
• Many young people involve in risky behaviours. They have little awareness of the risks involved
• Underage sex and teen pregnancy are big issues among youth today.
• Many young people are engaging with KANCO online platforms on issues of AIDS, their sketchy
grammar indicates that they are youth
Train the senior level manager
Young creative people are highly mobile and hard to retain. Focus on training senior level executives
on how to properly plan for, integrate, manage and measure social media programs.
SMS is here to stay
Mobile telephony is improving peoples’ lives in simple and efficient ways using SMS. SMS is a highly
targeted and cost efficient way of spreading the word quickly about issues of local concern.
page|14

18. Challenges and Lessons Learnt

19. • Calling is becoming the old slow way, tweeting to service providers is faster than calling.
Safaricom customer care and payTV services provider DSTV are best cases in using twitter for
customer services.
• Keeping track of all the social media feed is not easy.
• Information targeting youths should be packaged in an ear friendly way so that the youth can
download the same way they download ringtones and popular music or the way they download
love messages.
• Not all ICTs can be used for M&E, the project period is five months; the M&E plan should focus
only on few tools that can serve as data sources within the time frame.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) was cited as a potent source for AIDS information for people
who do not have internet access. IVR is a good avenue when the operator is busy. Many people
don’t want to talk to machines, they want to press zero to talk to the operator.
• Before you try out IVRs, draft a communications strategy, use what works and leave what
doesn’t work.
• Hootsuite and Tweetdeck were mentioned as social media management tools. These tools not
only manage the information that you send but also the information that you are receiving.
• Telerivet poses as an alternative to shortcode services. Telerivet uses a tool that most people
in every country already have – a standard mobile phone. A cloud-based management system
routes messages to and from any number of mobile devices, allowing you to reach anyone who
has a mobile phone with SMS.
page|16

20. “Physical monitoring is expensive,
what opportunities can online
platforms offer?” –
Njuki Githethwa,
KCOMNET/EACOMNET
Secretariat
“I really like the idea of an
award as this is the only way to
encourage ‘best practice.” –
Grace Githaiga,
KICTANet
“We are no longer dealing
with traditional ways of
doing M&E. No direct contact
interventions will be used as
source of data. Main data
source here is online
interactions” –
Christian Bernard,
KenTel
“Youths are very tech savvy today
with their phones and if you give
them a chance to be able to
communicate with you through
tools such as twitter, and other
mobile services, we will be able to
mobilize more audiences” –
Cleopa Otieno,
Telecentre.org/KenTel
page|17

21. “I may be analogue with
capital A but now I have an
idea how to integrate social
media tools into our fishing
activities” –
Jedidah Waruhiu,
L. Victoria Rights Programme,
Diakonia Sweden
“We are living in a
generation of tablets
and ipads, response is
prompt”
“Ignore the buzz of the
web, aggregate phone
calls and SMS.” –
Phillip Thigo, InfoNet
“Inviting CCK to suggest content for radio
programmes will interfere with our media
independence, editorial independence
and freedom of expression” ~
Jimmy Okello, Interim
Chair, EACOMNET/ Radio Apac, Uganda
“Radio stations in Moshi,
Tanzania presented their
views to the G8 summit in
USA, linking Telerivet to
twitter” –
Khassim Sheghembe, Farm
Radio International
page|18
“MyLocalRadio.org is
an online community of
practice for people wanting
to freely collaborate, share
knowledge and build local
radio together.
Shibata Masakazu
UNESCO-Nairobi

22. Annexes
Annex 1: List of resources
Annex 2: Meeting Programme
Annex 3: List of participants
Annex 4: Excerpts of online discussions
Annex 5: The M&E Plan

23. Annex 1: List of resources
The resources provided were especially valued and therefore have now been made more widely
available on the EACOMNET website and social media platforms. Visit www.eacomnet.net to access
and download the presentations, meeting photos and other multimedia formats.
Annex 2: Meeting Programme
page|20

24. Annex 3: List of Participants
Online discussion: gracegithaiga@yahoo.com, cochieng@kenyatelecentres.org,
bsullivan@farmradio.org, jokello@hotmail.com, cleopa@kenyatelecentres.
org, njukig@kcomnet.org, amos@kcomnet.org, alexander.aluoch@gmail.com,
a.yusuph@unesco.org, Pthigo@infonet.or.ke, m.shibata@unesco.org,
kanco@kanco.org, ksheghembe@farmradiotz.org
page|21

25. Physical meeting: Shalom House, Nairobi - Kenya
page|22

26. Annex 4: Excerpts of online discussions
page|23

27. page|24

28. page|25

29. page|26

30. page|27

31. Monitoring and Evaluation
(M&E) Plan
EACOMNET-UBRAF
2012-2013
ANNEX 5

32. UNIFIED BUDGET, RESULTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK
(UBRAF) 2012-2013 | Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan
Summary
The M&E plan has been developed based on the following key performance indicators
1. Number of producers trained on the development of radio programs on HIV/AIDS
2. A platform for networking established with a website, facebook and twitter account
3. Number of people trained on use of ICT to share online content
4. Program logs and work plans detailing the schedule of production and sharing of programs to
be provided by the partner community radio stations to EACOMNET secretariat
5. Programs produced and shared according to work plan
6. Youth focused programs produced and shared
7. Online data bank of programs available
8. Uploaded programs and digital stories shared
9. Traffic on the platforms available
10. Award type, criteria and procedure of entry
page|29

33. Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting
(i) Data collection
• Data will be collected from all the projects activities. Sources of data include training reports,
work plans and metadata from uploaded materials.
• Qualitative data will be obtained from new media analytics and content from the online
discussions and engagements.
• Training reports will provide data on the number of radio producers trained and the number
of partners who will be able to share content online and manage online interactions
• Program logs and work plans will provide information on the scheduled programs and the
extent to which the programs are being aired according to schedule
• Meta data of online content will be derived from the online platforms and will give data to
provide information on the increasing index of available content specific for online youth
interactions.
• Web 2 tools will include Facebook insights and Google analytics that will give an indication of
the popularity of the contents shared online.
• Qualitative data obtained from content of shared programs and discussions will provide data
for indication of the impact of the programs and the quality of service provided.
(ii) Data Analysis for strategic information and reporting
All data once summarized in the respective tools is entered on a data sheet. This is an excel
workbook that will allow entry of individual episodes of the programs. Each producer handling a
programmatic component fills their summarized data in the data sheet.
Basic data analysis is conducted on collated data; trend, comparative and progress analysis. This
will help to determine the online engagements and gaps in project implementation and forms part
of strategic information for decision making for the presentation of the award.
page|30

34. (iii) Data Quality Assurance
• EACOMNET secretariat will undertake data quality assurance to ensure that data collected,
analyzed and reported is accurate, reliable, precise, complete and timely.
• Project staff directly involved in the project are trained on fundamentals of M&E and the
various online M&E strategies that they will be involved in.
• Supervisory review of filed data by the M&E focal person
page|31

35. Annex 5a: Logical framework
Goal
Strengthened capacities of the youth in East Africa to advocate and combat HIV/AIDS through
community media, mobile telephony and online presence
Objective
Community based young men and women enabled to contribute fully to the overall goal of
reduction of sex transmission of HIV and AIDS through media and ICT capacity building
page|32

36. page|33

37. page|34

38. Annex 5b: Data collection and reporting tools
page|35

39. EACOMNET Secretariat | Shalom House, Ngong Road,
Daniel Comboni Road-Wing C 1st Floor. P.O Box 2641-
00100, GPO Nairobi. Tel: (254 20) 2379949;
Cell: (254 20) 725262623
Like us on Facebook
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loop
or just drop by the office sometime
to check us out

40. East African Community Media Network
Networking Community Media in East Africa
www.eacomnet.net | @eacomnet